J.T. Rutherford

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J. T. Rutherford (May 30, 1921 – November 6, 2006) was a United States Representative from the state of Texas. He was a Democrat.

He was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on May 30, 1921 and moved to Odessa, Texas in 1934, attending public schools there. He served as an enlisted man in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1946, of which 28 months were spent overseas, and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal. As an assault amphibian vehicle crewman, he landed in the first waves on D-Day at Tarawa, Saipan--where was wounded, and Tinian. He retired as a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

He studied at San Angelo College from 1946 to 1947 and at Sul Ross State College in Alpine, Texas from 1947 to 1948. He attended Baylor University Law School in Waco, Texas from 1948 to 1950.

He was a businessman and a partner in an industrial electrical construction firm as well as being the owner of an advertising company prior to serving elected office.

He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1948 to 1952 and was a member of the Texas State Senate from 1953 to 1954. He was elected to the 84th to 87th United States Congresses from January 3, 1955 to January 3, 1963. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1962 to the 88th United States Congress; he was unseated by Republican Ed Foreman. He only missed one vote of the several thousand cast while he was a U.S. Congressman.

He was the first chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks. He was awarded the U. S. Department of Interior's Conservation Service Award in 1962 for his efforts to spearhead conservation legislation including laws that created a new national seashore on Padre Island, Cape Cod National Seashore, and Point Reyes in California.

Rutherford's district was the old jumbo 16th district, Midland being its eastmost point and El Paso at its westmost. It also stretched hundreds of miles along the border with Mexico. The 19 counties it embraced covered 42,067 square miles--making it larger than the states of Ohio and Tennessee, among others.

After leaving Congress, he formed J. T. Rutherford & Associates, a government relations consulting firm to work on issue before Congress.

He died in Arlington, Virginia on November 6, 2006.

[edit] Reference

Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Preceded by George W. Elliott	Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 88 (Odessa) 1949 – 1953	Succeeded by Elbert Reeves
Preceded by Hill D. Hudson	Texas State Senator from District 29 (Odessa) 1953 – 1954	Succeeded by Frank Owen, III
Preceded by Kenneth M. Regan	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 16th congressional district 1955 – 1963	Succeeded by Ed Foreman